Community Services Minister Tony Simpson recently granted Save the Children Australia $478,958 to deliver the project.
It aims to identify areas along the Armadale train line where young people aged 12 to 17 hang out and divert them to youth engagement programs and services.
The program was initiated after a Save the Children Australia report, Identity on the Line, investigated the disadvantage faced by young people along the Armadale train line, particularly Aboriginal children.
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READ NOWSave the Children regional manager Ross Wortham said the agency wanted to improve collaboration between service providers and work more intensively with young people at risk of committing crime.
‘With a limited number of services and activities for young people in the community, it’s critical that we all work together and complement one another,’ he said.
‘Programs like Ignite Basketball and One Step Closer in Armadale and the PCYC’s drop-in centre in Gosnells are good examples of this.
‘It means that the young people who have overwhelmingly told us they hang out on the trains and streets late at night because they ‘have nowhere else to go’, will be able to access and get even greater benefit from a whole range of services.’
The partnership project involves Save the Children Australia, City of Armadale, PCYC, WA Football Commission, the departments of Corrective Services, Education and Child Protection and Family Support, WA Police and Hope Community Services.